


A Blush-Pink Heart

by withaflourish



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, One Shot, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:52:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4265658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withaflourish/pseuds/withaflourish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Evelyn Trevelyan had one mark on her hand that everyone knew about: the puckered, green, pulsing one that, oh, just happened to have the ability to close Fade rifts in the sky. That mark gave her enough trouble as it was, so Evelyn found it relatively easy to ignore the mark on her other hand, the small blush-pink heart that had bloomed on the base of her thumb when she had first been introduced to Commander Cullen Rutherford -- the mark that indicated that she had found her soulmate."</p>
<p>In Thedas, soulmate marks are bad omens and oft-never reciprocated. A vignette where Evelyn Trevelyan's quite sure that she is part of that unlucky majority -- unless she's wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Blush-Pink Heart

Evelyn Trevelyan had one mark on her hand that everyone knew about: the puckered, green, pulsing one that, oh, just happened to have the ability to close Fade rifts in the sky. That mark gave her enough trouble as it was, so Evelyn found it relatively easy to ignore the mark on her other hand, the small blush-pink heart that had bloomed on the base of her thumb when she had first been introduced to Commander Cullen Rutherford -- the mark that indicated that she had found her soulmate. 

She was no fool; she knew soulmate marks, rare as they were, brought nothing but misfortune. Her parents had told her stories about soulmate pairs, lives riddled with hardship and woe, their soulmate oftentimes their only solace. And that was the best case scenario. The odds of your soulmate having a mark of the same shape and colour -- the fabled match -- were close to zero. More likely, they would bloom for someone else, and so on and so on, a daisy chain of unrequited soulmates; the Maker had a wicked sense of humour like that. Not to mention the rumors that would fly every time a soulmate mark was spotted. No, soulmate marks were a bad omen, possibly even more so than the Anchor on her other hand, and she didn’t need any more complications in her life. So she wore leather gloves as she stole glances at Cullen’s hands, arms, feet (all bare; she’d even seen him take off his shirt for a sparring match once and, although she enjoyed the view more than she’d like to admit, she’d felt a cold pit in her stomach form as she’d scanned the scarred, muscled torso for a mark that didn’t exist). 

It was thoughts like these that had her idly massaging her hand in the War Room as she examined the map of Ferelden spread out before her. The door creaked open, and she looked up to find herself face-to-face with a sopping-wet ex-Templar. 

Apparently, while she'd been halfheartedly attempting to plan the next mission to the Storm Coast, it had started raining outside. And heavily at that. Well, either that or her Commander had decided to take a dive into the garden fountain. 

“Report from the forces in the Hinterlands, Inquisitor,” Cullen said, professional as ever despite the veritable puddle he was creating. Evelyn maintained eye contact, not giving into the temptation to watch the drop of water that had dripped from his hair and was hugging the curve of his jaw before slowly sliding down his neck, pausing briefly at his collarbone before continuing downwards into his armor and... _ahem, right, report from the Hinterlands._

“Is it urgent?” she asked after what was hopefully a perfectly appropriate pause. 

“No, but they have found some interesting new locations.”

“Then it can wait until you’ve dried off. We wouldn’t want the Commander of the Inquisition’s Forces to catch a cold. Not to mention what Josephine will say if you continue to drip water onto her prized Antivan rug.” She flashed him a wry smile before she could stop herself, and he chuckled. He turned around and began walking towards the doors, and something caught Evelyn’s eye. Soaked from the rain, his fur cowl lay low and deflated on his shoulders, revealing the pale skin on the back of his neck. And there, almost-but-not-quite hidden by his hair, was a small blush-pink heart. Almost unbidden, images began to flash through Evelyn’s mind.

Cullen rubbing the back of his neck as he stammered about his Templar vows, or lack thereof.

The omnipresent fur cowl he’d always wear, rain or shine, even when it seemed absurdly impractical to do so. 

Oh.  _Oh._

But that didn't have to mean anything. She could pretend that she hadn't seen it, and they could carry on as they had before. No torrid romance, no life of hardship and woe, no... no soulmate. After all, he was still Commander of her Forces and she was still the Herald of Andraste and this was still a very very bad idea.

Then again, her life seemed pretty saturated with hardship and woe as it was -- could it really get any worse? And even if it did, wouldn't it be worth it to have someone alongside her, someone she could love and trust and know with every inch of her body and soul? Wouldn't it be worth it to have that person be  _him_?

"Wait!" she called as she took off her glove. He turned, puzzled, and she beckoned with her bare hand. He walked toward her slowly, eyes transfixed on her hand, realization slowly dawning. "You- That- I mean," he finally tore his eyes from her mark to look at Evelyn herself as they stood, facing each other and still far enough to be within the bounds of public decorum.

Evelyn took one step closer. 

"Do you want this?" she murmured, hoping and praying to a Maker she hadn't prayed to in years. _Please, let us have this journey together. We will make each other better and stronger and_ good _. We will be better than the stories, I just know it._ _  
_

He hesitated and licked his lips as he cast his eyes down. After a moment, he looked at her again, newly resolute, and in a low voice thrumming with intensity, said "Maker's breath, yes."

Evelyn broke out into a smile of pure joy, completely unfettered, and threw her arms around his neck. Blush-pink heart touched blush-pink heart, and a thrill went down her spine, effervescent like the best Orlesian champagne, as she pulled him in for a kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> For russian-wolfie on Tumblr, who answered my plea for Cullen/Trevelyan prompts with a suggestion for a soulmate AU. I promised a 5-sentence ficlet; it got a bit longer than that.


End file.
